Floppy Board Tiles

This page was prompted by Fergus Duniho's
Chess Variant Construction Set page. I wanted to add some details about my set, along with a photograph (see bottom of page).

Back in in September 1999, I purchased four floppy boards from the US Chess Federation.
The catalog number was S602GR, and the description was Floppy board - Green.
It seems that this item is no longer available from their web site. They do offer vinyl boards, but
I have no experience with those.

I sliced the four boards up into the following configuration of tiles:

Tile Size

Count

Total Squares

1x1

21

21

1x2

2

4

1x3

1

3

1x4

5

20

2x2

20

80

4x4

8

128

Don't ask me why I created a 1x3 tile -- I can't remember. I didn't put a great deal of thought into creating the optimal partition of tiles, but I think what I have is fairly flexiable and convenient.

Cutting up these tiles was somewhat difficult. I used an exacto knife, but found it
difficult to cut a perfectly straight line because the flexible material of the floppy board
would shift when pressure was applied.

The big advantage of these boards is the rubberized backing which will resist slipping and sliding when placed on a flat surface. Also the tiles are flexible and always lay flat. A small disadantage is the thickness of the rubber backing makes it difficult to cut in straight lines, and causes the tiles to take up more space.